Stunned Junco

Overcast and calm. If there was rain, I didn’t cross paths with it.

My outside time was limited to a drive with a little bit of walking in the latter half of the afternoon.

I went by Kramer Avenue. I did not cover much distance, but took my time doing it.

Walking slowly I was able to stick with a loose flock of juncos that was utilizing the salmonberry thickets along the edges.

At one point a couple of them started alarming though not with the intensity I heard yesterday. This time I was there for the start, and it seemed to have been precipitated by the calls of a somewhat distant Pacific Wren. The wren’s calls did seem alarm-like, but not an especially insistent alarm sound. At least to me.


I crossed paths with someone who mentioned a lone Snow Goose is still hanging out on the Kimsham ballfields. I stopped by and saw it from a distance resting on the grass near the fence in centerfield.

The White-throated Sparrow is still at the kelp patch pull out.

While checking out the gulls on the roof of the seafood processing building near the grid, a flock of juncos arrived nearby. They were foraging and moving between patches of brush.

I noticed one flying fairly high across the street. I didn’t try to follow it, but did notice a bit of fluttering in front of a house just after seeing it.

Checking with binoculars, I could see where it had fallen just off the edge of the sidewalk. I thought it had been a bit closer than the house, but apparently it was in line and flew into the (closed) second story window.

Sometimes window strike birds are only mildly stunned and will recover fairly quickly, so I just checked to see that it was still there periodically over the next few minutes.

When it didn’t move, I finally went over to check closer.


I could see its body moving. It was clearly stunned, but still alive. I picked it up to take a look. As expected, it was quite docile, but did arrange itself a bit when it realized it was in my hand. Moments later its eyes closed and it started to slump down again.

I set it back a bit further under the ramp where it had fallen. I hoped that would lessen the chance a raven noticed it or someone walking on the sidewalk inadvertently stepped on it. With any luck, it recovered enough to fly away after a little more time. I may try and check tomorrow to see.

My iNaturalist Observations for Today

1 thought on “Stunned Junco”

Leave a Reply